Nice pathways for a low budget

The wet and cold months have finally arrived. Dew decorates the grasses and plants in your garden. Who would not like to stroll through the autumn garden and sit on a bench, catching the last rays of sunshine? Or simply harvest the last vegetables without getting dirty shoes? With a little skilled craftsmanship, attractive paths and walkways can be created for little money. The path can be curved, straight, narrow or wide-spread – just let your creativity flow and decide what fits best to your garden.

Some planning in advance, one day of work, and off you go. Before you start to create the walkway, think about the route it will take and what kind of material you prefer. The laying of simple wooden tiles or bars is simple and cheap and can be a real alternative to traditional stepping stones. Paths which are made out of mulch, gravel or crushed stone do not need a concrete foundation. They appear natural and can be transformed easily if you have other ideas or garden requirements later on. If the pathway will be used very often, durable and resistant materials are a good choice.

When you know what you want, equip yourself with some cord and wooden sticks. First, the course of the path needs to be marked. Please consider that for the use of a single person, the path should at least be 60 cm wide. If two people need to be able to pass each other, you should consider a width of 120 cm.
Next step is use a spade for digging a line along the border of the path right next to cords. Remove the soil inbetween the cords for approximately 10 cm in depth. Protruding rocks and roots must be removed for an even and pleasant walkway. Bumps and hollows can be filled with gravel, sand or soil. The ground can then be compressed with a soil roller.
If you want an edging line as outer limitation, on both sides of the path, a trench needs to be dug out. These trenches need to be slighly bigger than the curb stones which will fit in there later. If you fill the trench with sand, the position of the curb stones can easily be corrected. Make sure that there is as little space as possible between the laid stones. Having placed the border stones, hammer them down and fill in gaps with sand. Now, the path can be completed by evenly distributing the selected material, for example gravel, inbetween the curb stones of the path.

That’s it – all done! Now enjoy your garden and use your newly created pathway to get to your favourite corner of the garden.